The present invention is directed to an improved refractory teeming or casting pipe for use at the outlet of a melt container during a teeming or casting operation. The present invention is specifically directed to such a teeming pipe of the type which is connected to a slide valve closure of a ladle and which surrounds or shrouds a turbulent melt discharge of steel from the ladle into an intermediate container of a continuous casting system.
The term "teeming pipe" is employed to refer to both the shadow or wake type pipes and immersion pipes or immersion exit nozzles. Wake or shadow-type pipes are simple, smooth pipes which serve to prevent reoxidation of steel into the teeming flow of steel during a teeming operation. Immersion pipes are additionally intended to produce a non-turbulent inflow or supply of the melt, for purposes of protecting against oxidation, along with a uniform distribution of the steel into a casting mold, and thus, include distribution channels at the exit end of the immersion pipe. In a continuous casting system, a wake or shadow pipe is located at the outlet of the ladle which supplies the melt to an intermediate container, and in turn, the melt is fed from the intermediate container to the casting mold through an immersion pipe. Such system includes plugs or slide valve closures at the exit nozzles of the ladle and the intermediate container. The respective teeming pipes are attached in an easily removable fashion to the outlet nozzle or to the slide valve closure, and communication through the respective teeming pipes is easily achieved by operation of the plugs or the slide valve closures. Both types of teeming pipes are partially immersed in the respective portions of the melt in the operating positions of the teeming pipes.